1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a rhythm multi-pick used to enhance and richen the sounds and tone of a stringed instrument, and in particular to a rhythm multi-pick comprising a plurality of spaced-apart pick members and having a handle for comfortably resting the fingers of a hand of an instrumentalist when playing the stringed instrument.
2. Description of Related Art
Stringed instruments such as guitars, mandolins and banjos, are activated by picking the strings. A pick is used to engage the strings and produce musical tones of the instrument. Single picks strike only one string at a time, working the pick in a singular manner, one note at a time. No matter how fast the single pick strikes the strings, it can only achieve one note at a time. To produce chords a single pick is rapidly moved sequentially across all the strings and each of the strings vibrate producing a musical tone depending on the tension and length of the strings.
Single picks are limited to one single pick, and multi-picks are not limited to a single pick. Multi-picks can have few or many picks or members. Single picks work in a single manner. Multi-picks work in a plural manner. A single pick cannot eliminate a multi-pick. A multi-pick can eliminate a single pick in a limited way. Multi-picks give the instrumentalist new techniques; new style, new sounds.
A multi-pick structure has been used to simultaneously strike two or three strings of a musical instrument and not necessarily adjacent strings. Previous multi-picks have a rectangle shape with four flat surfaces. The surface of the rectangle that faces the strings sometimes comes in contact with the strings and makes a screeching, shrill noise drowning out the music you really want to hear. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,826, issued Feb. 21, 1967 to C. Caron, discloses a multi-pick structure wherein each of the pick elements comprises a spacer and a pick which may be stacked to form different multi-pick arrangements. The distance between the picks is substantially equal to the spacing between the strings of the instrument on which the multi-pick assembly is to be used. The flat shape picks in U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,826 do not sound or work well in a multi-pick. Flat picks shaped like a triangle and other flat shapes have lots of flat surfaces causing a slapping noise when a multi-pick is strummed over the strings of a stringed instrument. A slapping noise, caused by the flat surface of the picks slapping the strings, overcomes and drowns out the music a listener wants to hear.
Other pick devices for stringed instruments are known and described in the following U.S. patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 567,447, issued Sep. 8, 1896 to F. Barrientos, Discloses a musical instrument with a double pick which comprises a bar having two spaced-apart teeth extending therefrom. This device can only work in a singular way. It is not a multi-pick. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 768,241, issued Aug. 23, 1904, to Charles F. W. Seidel, discloses a pick having three picking points. This type of pick comprises lots of surface area and produces noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,128, issued Feb. 3, 1981, to Laurence Des Gaines, discloses a tapered array of a plurality of parallel guitar picks which are closely knitted together and mounted in a handle. Although it is a multi-pick, the spacing of the picks is not far enough apart to be in a class of rhythm multi-picks, where equal regularly alternating beats are played. Therefore, it is used in a single pick manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,189, issued Jan. 14, 1997, to Keith Latteri, discloses a tripoint plectrum having a body from which three equally spaced, parallel arranged pick members extend. The central pick member extends further from the body than do the outer two pick members. The one piece construction permits the central pick and one of the other outer picks to displace an instrument string on both the downstroke and upstroke while reducing unwanted vibration and resonance. However, strings vibrate slightly longer like in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,128 and rhythm or equal regular alternating beats are not produced.
U.S. Des. Pat. No. D444,167, issued Jun. 26, 2001 to William J. Charters, discloses a quasi-rectangular shaped multi-pick apparatus having tapered ends to reduce unwanted noises if the body of the multi-pick comes in contact with the strings of an instrument.